Writings from the wife of a wounded warrior who has been left with mostly invisible injuries.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Operation Finally Home and Governor Brownback

Yesterday, Allen, Frankie, and I had the honor of speaking with Kansas Governor Brownback at a meeting in his office set up by Dan Vargas and Operation Finally Home. It was a great opportunity for us in many ways and we can't say thank you enough to Dan Wallrath and Dan Vargas of Operation Finally Home. They have done so much for us and we are so excited to be a part of their family! It was so great to see them both and get to spend a little bit of time with them.

Operation Finally Home is an organization started by Dan Wallrath. Dan is a custom home builder and was asked to help remodel a house for a wounded warrior. Well, needless to say, he did that one and still does them today. They started in Texas but have now expanded into 5 other states as well. Part of this is also that they want to help these families succeed and do a great deal to insure this happens. For us, not only did they play a huge part in our build, they also are paying our insurance and taxes for the first 2 years on our house. This is how the meeting with Governor Brownback came into play.

Currently, a handful of states have great legislation that make their state a fantastic place for veteran's and their families to retire due to the benefits they offer. For example, if a 100% service connected disabled veteran retires in Texas, they pay no personal property tax. This is a huge draw for these families to retire in Texas, which in turn means they are spending money in Texas. It is a win-win situation! So, for Operation Finally Home who is paying taxes for the homes of disabled veteran's, it is important to get more states with benefits similar to Texas. Obviously, this would mean that the money Operation Finally Home is paying in taxes, could potentially be used to build more homes. Therefore, any state Operation Finally Home goes into to build a home, they try to set up meetings with the Governor's to start the conversations on getting the valuable legislation into that state.

During our build, Governor Brownback came out to help with our house. During this time, Dan Vargas was able talk to him and make the connection that led to our meeting yesterday in Topeka. We appreciate the fact that Dan V and Dan Wallrath both took the time to come up from Texas for this meeting. One of the corporate sponsors of Operation Finally Home also came to the meeting from Texas, so thank you to Mark from LP.

We all feel that our meeting went really well. We were excited to see that members of Gov Brownback's office had already pulled some numbers relative to our discussion. This makes us hopeful that they are really considering and looking at the possibility of giving some tax breaks to disabled veteran's in the state of Kansas. Gov Brownback had also invited our state's adjutant General to join us and it was great getting to meet him and have him involved in our discussion. Hopefully this will get the ball rolling here in Kansas to pass some legislation to help our veteran's.

Thanks again to Operation Finally Home for bringing us into your family and doing so much for us and all the veteran's you serve!!

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About Me

I am the wife of a wounded warrior. This season of my life started November 21, 2007, the day before Thanksgiving. My husband was deployed to Iraq and my family had all went to my sister's house for the holiday. My mom, sister, and I were making pies when my cell phone rang. Little did I know that my entire life was about to change. My husband had been critically injured in Iraq. Thus began this season of my life.
We are now three years into this season. We have all changed in many ways. Each day we try to embrace each other for who we are now and not dwell too much on who we used to be. Some changes are not so good, but many are definitely for the better. Just recently, we have started talking about the positive changes that we notice that are a direct result of this traumatic event.
I now know that my passion in life is to help other wounded warriors and their families. There are many needs that are not being met and it is my hope to help fill in some of those gaps for others who are traveling this same road.

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If you would like to post a link to any part of my blog, or copy and paste, please ask for permission before doing so. This is my personal story and is written for the purpose of self therapy and to help other's in similar situations feel less alone or find resources for help. I appreciate everyone's support and comments and will gladly grant permission to people or organizations that have similar beliefs as my own.

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I'm a Finalist!!

MG Bunting presenting SGT Hill with Purple Heart

December 3, 2007 WRAMC

Family Pic

June 2010

New York City Wounded Warrior Trip with the FDNY

Riding an FDNY fireboat to the statue of liberty. May 2008

Family

There is no bond stronger than the one that exists in a family. It allows us to fail without fault, to learn without loss,to love without condition. It is how we become who we are...-Brooke Vogel

Allen, Gina, Makale, and Dreyson

Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, NY

Road to Recovery Conference and Tribute

Makale and Dreyson with Mickey and Minnie in Orlando December 2008

Daddy and the Boys

Hanging out in the hottub

Lightning McQueen at Hollywood Studios

Posing with Lightning McQueen

Makale @ Sunflower State Games

Makale and Heather displaying their medals from the Sunflower State Games August 2007